Former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner expected to announce run for mayor

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner is expected to announce his plans to run for mayor of Los Angeles, Eyewitness News has learned.

Beutner, 65, is an investment banker and philanthropist who ran the city's school district from 2018-21. His expected candidacy means he will run against current Mayor Karen Bass, who is seeking a second four-year term in June.

Beutner questioned Bass' record on crime and development issues, but focused his most withering criticism on her response to January's devastating Palisades Fire, telling the Los Angeles Times that the city showed a "failure of leadership" as historically strong winds spread flames through the expensive coastal enclave, gutting thousands of homes and killing 12 people.

The fire damaged Beutner's house, and his mother-in-law's home was destroyed.

An after-action report issued by the Los Angeles Fire Department last week said the department experienced poor communication, inexperienced leadership, a lack of resources and an ineffective process for recalling firefighters back to work during the crisis.

In light of the report, Bass has promised to make changes.

"When you have broken hydrants, a reservoir that's broken and is out of action, broken (fire) trucks that you can't dispatch ahead of time, when you don't pre-deploy at the adequate level, when you don't choose to hold over the Monday firefighters to be there on Tuesday to help fight the fire -- to me, it's a failure of leadership," Beutner said.

"At the end of the day, the buck stops with the mayor," he said.

City News Service contributed to this report.